A spokesman for Major League Baseball's umpires union has accused MLB's security investigators of being like "secret police" because of the extensive background checks made on each of the league's umpires, the Associated Press has reported. "Major League Baseball's security staff is essentially defaming umpires in their communities by conducting strange, surreptitious, and poorly-executed investigations resembling that of secret police in some despotic nation," the spokesman Lamell McMorris told the AP.

Roger Clemens showed up at the Astros' minicamp on Wednesday and sidestepped a question about his upcoming appearance before a House committee investigating performance-enhancing drugs, according to an Associated Press report. "I'm not going to talk about that," said Clemens. "I'm doing it the right way and do what I need to do. We're going to do it the right way."

A lawyer for Brian McNamee, Andy Pettite's former personal trainer, told the Associated Press that he expects Andy Pettitte to reveal to Congress that he discussed human growth hormone with former teammate Roger Clemens. "We're hopeful based on Andy's reputation that he will corroborate Brian's statements with regard to Roger," Earl Ward, the lawyer, told the AP in a telephone interview.

The Associated Press has reported that former New York Yankees' second baseman Chuck Knoblauch agreed Monday to talk to a committee investigating drug use in baseball. The committee issued a subpoena for Knoblauch recently after he failed to accept an invitation to testify.

Roger Clemens' agent released an 18,000-word report Monday to defend against allegations that his career rebounded around the time period he was accused of using performance-enhancing drugs, according to the Associated Press. "Clemens' longevity was due to his ability to adjust his style of pitching as he got older, incorporating his very effective split-finger fastball to offset the decrease in the speed of his regular fastball caused by aging," the report claims.

Roger Clemens' meeting with a congressional committee investigating steroids in baseball was pushed back until next month. The pre-hearing meeting will now take place on Feb. 5.

According to the Associated Press, Barry Bonds asked a federal judge to throw out the perjury charges against him on Wednesday. Bonds was charged in November with lying to a federal grand jury regarding his use of performance-enhancing drugs.

A congressional committee investigating steroids in baseball has subpoenaed Chuck Knoblauch in regards to allegations that occurred before September 2002 when steroids were banned. Knoblauch is asked to appear on Thursday, according to the Associated Press. "The committee has taken this step because Mr. Knoblauch failed to respond to the invitation to participate voluntarily in a deposition or transcribed interview and the Feb. 13 hearing," committee chairman Henry Waxman and ranking Republican Tom Davis said in a statement Tuesday.

Published reports indicate that Jim Murray met with Brian McNamee in 2004, near Clemens' New York apartment, according to McNamee's attorney Earl Ward. Murray works for Randy and Alan Hendricks, agents for Clemens. "He did speak to Murray about his suspicions, his concerns that Major League Baseball had implemented testing and that Roger could have a problem," Ward told The New York Times after speaking with his client Friday night.

Roger Clemens was asked by Congress to submit to a deposition or transcribed interview Jan. 26, more than two weeks before the House hearing where the pitcher and his former trainer Brian McNamee are to testify. Letters were sent to Clemens, McNamee, and three other people Friday by House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform chairman Henry Waxman and ranking Republican Tom Davis. The letters ask the witnesses to meet with committee staff on specific dates leading up to the panel's scheduled Feb. 13 hearing. "The committee asks that you provide testimony about allegations in Senator George Mitchell's report ... that you and other Major League Baseball players used performance enhancing drugs during your professional baseball career," Waxman and Davis wrote to Clemens. The letter was sent to him via Rusty Hardin, one of the lawyers for the seven-time Cy Young Award winner. Clemens is given until Jan. 22 to respond.